Life with Machines

Baratunde Thurston

Life With Machines explores the human side of the A.I. revolution – the good, the bad, and the weird – and asks, “How can these machines help us become more human?”  In this video podcast, host Baratunde Thurston helps us understand our rapidly emerging future, and encourages us to shape it and laugh at the absurdity. Baratunde demystifies A.I. and makes it personal with a wide range of guests: entrepreneurs, artists, policymakers, technologists, business leaders, creators, educators, and scientists. Maybe even an A.I. or two. Everyone should have a say in where technologies like A.I. take us, not just a handful of people in California who think nitro cold brew on tap should be a human right.  Join us in candid conversations and fun experiments, as we imagine and co-create our life, with machines.

  1. 1D AGO

    They Grew Up With AI—Now They’re Taking Control

    We throw around the phrase "digital native" like a compliment, but Big Tech uses it as a free pass to force-feed youth their latest experiments. They market convenience while masking the true human toll: young minds navigating rampant algorithmic fallout, all built on the backs of underpaid, invisible ghost labor. The individuals who will actually have to live inside this AI-driven future are the same people being blocked from the boardrooms designing it. In the fifth and final episode of the Life With Machines x Young Futures series, Baratunde Thurston sits down with two leaders who are completely rejecting the tech industry's "inevitability narrative" and taking the reins of AI governance into their own hands. Neha Shukla (Innovation For Everyone) is mobilizing a movement across 35 countries to teach students "sociotechnical literacy." She’s fighting to ensure the youth—especially those from the Global South—aren't just used as token photo ops, but are actively writing the ethical frameworks that will govern artificial intelligence. Tazin Khan (Cyber Collective) is demanding systemic digital rights and shifting the burden of cybersecurity away from the end-user. By bringing tech education to adults, she is putting an end to the era of teenagers having to act as the "unpaid IT department" to protect their communities from corporate platform failures. These are the digital architects stepping up to fix the systems they didn’t even make in the first place. ------------ LINKS MENTIONED Innovation For Everyone Cyber Collective Young Futures EPISODES REFERENCED:  Dr. Avriel Epps on how to raise kids in an AI world Episode 1 — How Will AI Impact Gen Z? Episode 2 — How ChatGPT EXPOSED Our Education System Episode 3 — AI Is Monetizing Our Mental Health Episode 4 — The Rural AI Revolution No One Is Talking About ------------ Follow us! Newsletter Instagram / https://www.instagram.com/lifewithmachines Baratunde's socials: Instagram Threads LinkedIn Send Questions, Comments, or Ideas: contact@lifewithmachines.media For partnerships, speaking engagements, and other opportunities to work together: teambaratunde@palettemgmt.com ------------ Created and Executive Produced by: Elizabeth Stewart and Baratunde Thurston Showrunner and Executive Producer: Alie Kilts Producer: Roya Lotfi Video Editor & Audio Engineer: Erik Shute Special Thanks to Charlotte Dungan, Tesia Zientek, Katya Hancock and Dr. Kristine Gloria Life with Machines is a Multiverses Media production This series was made in partnership with Young Futures #ai ##GenZLeadingAI #AIAgency #AIEthics #YoungFutures #LifeWithMachines

    18 min
  2. APR 30

    Big Tech Is Coming for Rural America. Young People Are Ready.

    What happens when Silicon Valley's AI boom collides with rural America and Indigenous communities? Big Tech is pouring hundreds of billions into data centers, eyeing reopened nuclear plants like Three Mile Island, and pushing for expanded uranium mining on Native lands to feed the machine. The communities bearing the physical cost of AI are the same ones being left out of the conversation about how it gets built. In this fourth episode of the Life With Machines x @YoungFutures series, Baratunde Thurston travels beyond the coasts to meet two leaders working with youth who refuse to let their communities be raw material for someone else's tech boom. Charlotte Dungan (Mark Cuban Foundation) is partnering with 4-H National to bring AI agency, not just AI literacy, to rural teens. Her students are using AI for drug discovery, search and rescue, and small business optimization in towns that were supposed to lose their best minds to the coasts. Tesia Zientek (AISES) is building the AUNTIE Tech Collective, a multi-generational initiative grounding Indigenous youth in tech leadership rooted in Seven Generations thinking, not "move fast and break things." Tribal Nations are now creating their own digital sovereignty frameworks, building Sovereign AI Factories on Native lands, and writing the rules for how their data and culture get used. This is the AI conversation Silicon Valley doesn't want you to see. ------------ LINKS MENTIONED The Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamps AISES AUNTIE Tech Collective Young Futures Episodes referenced: Michael Running Wolf on saving Indigenous languages with AI Episode 1 — How Will AI Impact Gen Z? Episode 2 — How ChatGPT EXPOSED Our Education System Episode 3 — AI Is Monetizing Our Mental Health Further reading: Avoiding the next digital divide: Defining digital sovereignty for Tribal Nations in the AI age AI is driving a data center boom in rural America. Locals are divided on the benefits AI is helping these organizations to protect and restore nature ------------ Follow us! Newsletter Instagram Baratunde's socials: Instagram Threads LinkedIn Send Questions, Comments, or Ideas: contact@lifewithmachines.media For partnerships, speaking engagements, and other opportunities to work together: teambaratunde@palettemgmt.com ------------ CHAPTERS 00:00 AI Boom Hits Rural Lands 01:33 Tradeoffs and Local Power 02:11 Teaching AI Agency 03:19 Student Projects in Action 04:25 Safety Rules for AI 05:38 Indigenous Digital Sovereignty 06:44 Auntie Tech Collective 09:29 Extraction and Data Stewardship 11:45 AI for Land and Conservation 13:25 Investing in Youth Leadership 14:48 Closing Thoughts and CTA ------------ Created and Executive Produced by: Elizabeth Stewart and Baratunde Thurston Showrunner and Executive Producer: Alie Kilts Producer: Roya Lotfi Video Editor & Audio Engineer: Erik Shute Special Thanks to Charlotte Dungan, Tesia Zientek, Katya Hancock and Dr. Kristine Gloria Life with Machines is a Multiverses Media production This series was made in partnership with Young Futures #ai #ruralamerica #indigenous #digitalsovereignty #datacenters #aiethics #youngfutures

    16 min
  3. JAN 28

    AI Therapy Exposed: Your Mental Health is Monetizable

    In this episode of Life with Machines, we explore the rise of AI as a substitute for human emotional support systems. With a focus on mental health, this video investigates how and why AI companies are pushing companionship as a core feature, and the implications that has on vulnerable young people.  Featuring insights from mental health experts and Gen Z advocates, the episode delves into the forces that have led many young people to turn to AI for emotional support, and what we need to consider in order to protect ourselves.  We also highlight successful strategies to deter harmful addictions in the past, like the fight against big tobacco, and how history can inform us on how to integrate AI into our lives with caution and a human-first approach.  This episode was produced in partnership with Young Futures, a nonprofit organization giving teens a real voice in the technologies shaping their world. ------------  Follow us!  Newsletter / https://lifewithmachines.media  Instagram / https://www.instagram.com/lifewithmachines  TikTok / https://www.tiktok.com/@lifewithmachines  LinkedIn / https://www.linkedin.com/company/lifewithmachines  Baratunde’s socials:  Instagram / https://www.instagram.com/baratunde  Threads / https://www.threads.net/@baratunde  LinkedIn / https://www.linkedin.com/in/baratunde  Send Questions, Comments, or Ideas: contact@lifewithmachines.media  For partnerships, speaking engagements, and other opportunities to work together, contact: lifewithmachines@smoothmedia.co  ------------  Created and Executive Produced by: Elizabeth Stewart and Baratunde Thurston Showrunner and Executive Producer: Alie Kilts Producer: Roya Lotfi Video Editor & Audio Engineer: Erik Shute Special Thanks to Alison Darcy, Trisha Prabhu, Jorge Alvarez, Katya Hancock and Dr. Kristine Gloria Life with Machines is a Multiverses Media production This series was made in partnership with Young Futures  #ai #artificialintelligence #mentalhealth #aiethic #responsibleAI #aitherapy #aicompanion

    27 min
  4. 12/01/2025

    The Real Reason Students Cheat Using AI

    In this episode of Life With Machines, we explore the widespread issue of students using AI to cheat in school, and ask the hard question: Is this just laziness, or is it reflective of a deeper problem within the modern education system? We dug deeper into the impact of artificial intelligence on school systems and why using ChatGPT to do your homework may not be the problem itself, but a symptom of a bigger issue.  ------------  LINKS MENTIONED Episode 1 ESAI Khan Academy Khanmigo Brisk Teaching Graidients NotebookLM Other resources not mentioned in the episode: The Learner Studio The Rithm Project The Center for Digital Thriving at Harvard's Graduate School of Education ------------  Follow us!  Newsletter Instagram TikTok LinkedIn Baratunde’s socials:  Instagram Threads  LinkedIn Send Questions, Comments, or Ideas: contact@lifewithmachines.media  For partnerships, speaking engagements, and other opportunities to work together, contact: lifewithmachines@smoothmedia.co  ------------  Created and Executive Produced by: Elizabeth Stewart and Baratunde Thurston Showrunner and Producer: Alie Kilts Executive Producer: Roya Lotfi Video Editor & Audio Engineer: Erik Shute Special Thanks to Zamaan Qureshi, Poonam Sharma, Katya Hancock and Dr. Kristine Gloria Life with Machines is a Multiverses Media production This series was made in partnership with Young Futures  #ai #artificialintelligence #plagiarism #chatgpt #education

    21 min

Trailers

4.8
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Life With Machines explores the human side of the A.I. revolution – the good, the bad, and the weird – and asks, “How can these machines help us become more human?”  In this video podcast, host Baratunde Thurston helps us understand our rapidly emerging future, and encourages us to shape it and laugh at the absurdity. Baratunde demystifies A.I. and makes it personal with a wide range of guests: entrepreneurs, artists, policymakers, technologists, business leaders, creators, educators, and scientists. Maybe even an A.I. or two. Everyone should have a say in where technologies like A.I. take us, not just a handful of people in California who think nitro cold brew on tap should be a human right.  Join us in candid conversations and fun experiments, as we imagine and co-create our life, with machines.

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